Amanjena
An estate organised inward around an irrigation basin, with a golf course it does not own along one side.
Amanjena stands on the Ouarzazate road south of Marrakech, twenty minutes from the airport, on ground of olive grove and palm at the edge of the Palmeraie. The plan turns inward. Everything radiates from a bassin, the traditional Moroccan irrigation pool that Ed Tuttle modelled on the twelfth-century Menara gardens, and the pavilions face their own courtyards rather than the country. That inwardness is doing real work, because the country here is not desert. The Amelkis golf course runs along one flank and belongs to someone else, other courses and resorts are minutes away, and the city is twenty minutes away.
The resort opened in February 2000 as the first Aman in Africa, built in pise, tadelakt and Ouarzazate marble, and its accommodation is published as thirty-two pavilions with six or seven two-storey maisons. Pavilions average about 175 square metres; eight have heated pools of twenty-five square metres and extended gardens. The bassin waters the olives, and departing guests are given the oil. The High Atlas stands on the horizon in winter with snow on it, which is the view the marketing uses and the reason the inward plan is easy to misread as a desert one.
Water first, boundary second. The organising fact is a basin, not a wall or a shoreline. The estate is held together by irrigation, which is how the gardens of this region have always been held together.
Neighbours on the near side. A golf course the resort does not own runs along it, and Marrakech is twenty minutes away. The seclusion is achieved by looking inward, and the register records that rather than the Sahara in the middle distance.
Who it is not for
Amanjena is wrong for travellers who expect wilderness at the gate: this is the developed edge of Marrakech, with courses, resorts and a main road nearby. It is wrong for anyone who wants a view out, since the pavilions are built to face their own courtyards. It is wrong for guests who want the medina at hand, because the city is a drive and the estate is not a base for walking it. For a walled compound with genuine emptiness outside, Amanbagh in Rajasthan is the comparison.
Sources
- aman.com and the property's public record - opened February 2000 as the first Aman in Africa, designed by Ed Tuttle, laid out around a bassin modelled on the Menara gardens
- Architect's project record - thirty-two pavilions averaging about 175 square metres, eight with heated pools of twenty-five square metres; two-storey maisons rising seven metres
Verification
- Official source
- Not yet checked
- Sources disagree
- the maisons are counted as six and as seven, giving a total of thirty-eight or forty.
- Property confirmation
- Pending
- Last verified
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Booking
Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
Request a proposalClassified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-240
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